Cons

As if it wasn't obvious from its make-up style case that the OT-810 is aimed at teenage girls, then the fact that Carphone Warehouse is offering the phone with a redeemable voucher for Barry M lip-gloss (from Superdrug) should hammer the point home. It's not like the handset is expensive either, as it can be picked up on PAYG for just £50, so is it an ideal choice as a gift for daughters or nieces this Christmas?

What sets this phone apart from the competition is definitely its cutesy design. Rather than opting for a traditional candy-bar shape, or even the messaging phone styling of the OT-799 that we looked at recently, Alcatel has instead used a clamshell design that's obviously been styled to look much like a blusher case.

When closed, the front has a mirrored finish with a 2.0megapixel camera peeping out of one corner. Flip open the phone and you'll find that the mirrored look is continued on the bezel around the screen, while the QWERTY keyboard that sits beneath it has a matte white look, but is surrounded by glossy plastic, which is also used on the battery cover on the rear.

Another interesting feature of the design is the small LED matrix that's hidden behind the mirrored finish on the front and lights up to show different symbols and alerts. For example, when the phone is charging it shows a battery icon gradually being filled up with juice, whereas when you've got an unread text message it shows an unopened envelope icon with a question mark over it. It's a neat and stylish touch on such a cheap handset.

On the bottom right-hand corner you'll find a standard microUSB jack that's used for both charging the handset using the supplied wall charger or syncing it with a PC to transfer music tracks, photos and other files. The opposite corner houses a standard 3.5mm headphone jack.

Removing the cover on the rear reveals the battery and under this you'll find the microSD card slot, meaning you can’t hotswap microSD cards. The phone only has 50MB of memory onboard, so if you want to make serious use of the MP3 player you will have to buy a microSD cards as there is none supplied in the box, though this is hardly surprising given its low price tag. Cards of up to 16GB are supported and these are pretty cheap these days being available online for as little as £9.